


Prey

by zsomeone



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Cannibalism- well sort of, Creature Fic, Gen, James "Bucky" Barnes- but not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-06
Updated: 2017-04-06
Packaged: 2018-10-15 08:02:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10552880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zsomeone/pseuds/zsomeone
Summary: Marvel but not really, and Bucky’s not actually Bucky, but I dunno how else to tag.  This is technically Marvel AU adjacent, but that's not even a thing.  I’ve been following this fic, and I like monsters.  And yes I have permission to play in this fic-world.Playing by my rules old though, where food doesn’t get a name.  He’s a Bad Guy™ he was convicted of  Bad Things and he volunteered for this situation.  Let’s just say it wasn’t a particularly informed decision.Basically, a dude gets eaten by a monster.  Graphically, because well shit I’m me.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [the Winter Creature part two](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9174904) by [BlaiddtheWolf](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlaiddtheWolf/pseuds/BlaiddtheWolf). 



> Inspiration is [this series](http://archiveofourown.org/series/621922), but it wouldn't let me link it that way. Start at the beginning if you go there, m'kay?

The blindfold was finally removed, and the helicopter hovered about eight feet above the snow. He’d been given a small bag, and it was time. Either he jumped soon or he would be pushed.  
Second thoughts, doubt, plagued him, he should have paid more attention to the terms. He’d heard enough on the way to this location, he knew what lived here. The creature, they’d called it, he’d worked with it before.  
But he could maybe use that, he had a chance to get past it and go free.

A chance, no matter how small, to see his family again. How could ha have chosen any differently, even if he’d known? He had to try.  
It had stopped before, when it went missing. They’d been unable to discover why, but if it had stopped once it might do it again.  
Or maybe that knowledge had been gained after his own capture and imprisonment?

Knowing he only had seconds, he tried to note as much of the surrounding area as he could, he had a better view up here than he would from the ground.  
There were most likely ski trails in the area, it looked prime for them. If he could get to where people were he might be able to lose himself among them. He could make a good guess as to direction to travel. The sun was low, there were only a couple hours left before sunset, and he needed to cover as much ground as possible before nightfall.  
And he knew the creature most likely waited along the way.

Someone pushed him, losing patience, and he fell into the deep powder. The copter immediately lifted off, heading away. He slung the bag across his chest and got to his feet.  
He needed to move quickly, the noise would have already alerted the creature, he couldn’t be here when it came to find him. Up then, toward the ridge, where the snow was patchy and he would be harder to track. Breathing deliberately slow, trying to remain calm. He’d heard rumors that it could smell panic and fear. The rumors were very likely true.  
Floundering through the deepest parts, he made it to the rise and climbed.

Focus on staying calm, breathe, _survive_. For them, for his family, for the tiny shred of hope deep within him that he’d though was long dead. He surveyed the terrain again, seeking the best route.  
If he followed this ridge south for a bit, there was a patch of heavy trees where the snow looked thin enough to avoid leaving many prints. Then he’d cut west toward the presumed ski trails, and hope he’d moved far enough out of its path.  
He’d seen what it did unmuzzled. He couldn’t let himself think about that now.

Into the trees now, weaving a bit to keep to the clear areas. So far so good? Something rustled to his right and he spun toward the sound...  
Fucking groundhog, or whatever they called those things around here. A fat one too. But that was a good sign, if the wildlife was this brave, maybe the creature didn’t come this way?  
As if it would make any noise to alert him, he knew how freakishly silent it moved when hunting. If he didn’t manage to spot it, he’d never know until it was upon him and far too late.

A weapon of any sort would make him feel better. There was a fallen branch ahead, it was slim and reasonably straight. Better than nothing, he broke off the branchy end, fortunately it broke somewhat pointy.  
Against the creature it made a hopeless weapon, but he could probably hold off any other hostile wildlife with it. And it made him feel better.  
Now using the duller end as a walking stick, he continued on his way.

Light was failing, so he paused to check the bag he’d been given and take stock while he could still see. A few bottles of water, some sort of granola bars or energy bars, matches, and one of those mylar thermal blankets. They clearly wanted him to live until the creature found him. He knew it would eat dead food, but preferred live. _Don’t think about it_.  
He drank some of the water, kept liquid from being carried close to his body. Dehydration was a serious risk in the cold, and he needed to stay sharp. Food could wait until later, and he had no intention of using the matches at all, might as well send up a flare if he was going to do that.

Night was now falling fast, and he was still moving through the trees. They hopefully provided enough cover that he could sleep here for a few hours, and try to reach the trails in the morning. They were further away that he’d originally thought, but should be within the next day’s reach. If they even existed, but they just _had_ to.  
The trees were considered, their height held a false sense of security, but he knew about the claws on that thing. It could climb a lot easier than he could, there was no safety to be found there.  
Was it tracking him yet? It must be.

Choosing one of the patches of deeper snow, he went to work scraping a bare spot, piling the sides up as much as the accumulation allowed. Sort of like a tiny igloo with no roof, but it would help him not freeze to death while he slept, a snow nest of sorts.  
Everything was silent, even the wind, and there was no movement in sight.  
He ate two of the bars and drank more water. Then, wrapping the blanket around him and including the bag inside it so his water wouldn’t freeze, he curled up and tried to sleep.

Sleep was difficult, he woke at every small noise.  
In the dark, there wasn’t even a moon tonight, he saw _them_ when he closed his eyes. The enemies, the people his squad had been sent after, the people the creature had killed. And sometimes eaten, when it wasn’t muzzled.  
He concentrate on his breathing, trying to stay calm, trying to sleep.

*****

He finally slept, though he hadn’t really expected to. Waking was cold, it had snowed a little during the night and his blanket was now dusted with it.  
Sitting up, he immediately saw the handprints/clawprints in the snow at the edge of his hole. It had found him, but had let him live? It had been here, in the night.  
Because of the mostly bare nature of the path he’d chosen to follow, there were no obvious clues as to where the creature had gone. It could be anywhere. It was toying with him?

Or was it letting him go, and letting him live?! It had done that before, for whatever reason.  
He focused on his breathing, hope was almost as dangerous as fear.  
From his nest he scanned the surrounding area, and even far up into the trees. He saw no sign of it, but he wasn’t sure he’d be able to spot it even if it was there. The creature was like a ghost sometimes, so still and all but invisible.

Wadding up his blanket, he shoved it in his bag and hurried on his way. But he was still alive, so there was still a chance.  
He tried to recall what he knew about it, but so much was classified. He’d only worked with it a handful of times, and tried to remember the words they’d used, the ones it listened to. But the words hadn’t been in English, and he hadn’t even understood them, much less been able to memorize them.  
Well, he’d just have to get past it, get by somehow. There was no other option, not for him.

A horrible thought occurred to him, what if it was only letting him run so far to take him down at the last minute, when sweet freedom was within sight?  
Was it intelligent enough to do that? Or was it playing some primitive game of cat and mouse? Or _both_?  
There was nothing to do but try, so he hurried along his way. Just a few more hours, and he’d hopefully be able to merge with people and somehow slip away.

*****

The trees had run out, and he was leaving tracks in the thin snow cover now. He could see ski trails far in the distance, and the occasional speck of a person going down them. The more populated trails must be lower, of otherwise out of his sight line.  
There were tracks in the fresh powder, but only animal tracks, nothing that could be taken for anything even remotely resembling a human.  
Then there was a sudden burst of birds taking flight from the trees he’d recently left behind, a rush of beating wings.

Had something startled them, or were they just being birds?  
He could control his breathing but not the sudden sweat that broke out as he stared hard at the area they’d come from, looking for anything at all, any reason.  
Minutes passed and nothing moved. He turned and continued on his way.

Suddenly he sensed it before he heard it, somehow, behind him. So close, too close. Frozen and still when he turned to view it, but covered in old dried blood, _so much blood._  
_Fuck_ this bastard was scary. It licked its lips.  
There was no way he could outrun it, that thing was crazy fast. He knew, he’d seen.

“Hey, friend! We met last night, remember me?” It was worth a shot.  
It did not appear to remember him, or at least not in the way he wanted it to. It cocked its head and moved a couple steps closer before stopping again. The teeth and claws were out, and every bit as terrifying as he remembered.  
“Um, hail Hydra?!”

It snorted at the words, okay so it didn’t like Hydra anymore, he was completely fucked now.  
Every instinct he had screamed for him to not turn his back on this threat, but he had to try to run. Even if it was hopeless, he had to run.  
But he couldn’t turn, couldn’t move. Both of them frozen in place, gazes locked, predator and prey.

The creature moved first, shuffled a small step closer, slowly, like a stalking cat, and he finally found the ability to turn and run.  
He made it three steps, which was pretty good, considering, when a heavy weight slammed into his back and smashed him to the ground. And knocking his only weapon, poor as though it may be, out of his grasp..  
That cold metal hand locked around his wrist like a manacle, its breath, hot against his neck as it pinned him down.  
Game over, he’d lost. Now all he could hope for was a quick death, as unlikely as that might be.

It shifted its weight off him, and flipped him onto his back. Claws ripped through his coat, tearing it open, pushing it aside, _exposing his flesh._  
The terror rose up, huge and all encompassing, erasing his ability to even think. Too late, didn’t matter now anyway.  
It licked him, tasting his sweat, his fear. An appetizer.

Suddenly it sunk its teeth into his chest, ripping muscle free, and he screamed in blinding agony. The pain was his entire world not, and this was only the first bite.  
He could smell his blood, his flesh.  
It licked the wound, lapping at the spilling blood, causing raw and exposed nerves to flair again in agony.

Another bite, and he wished for unconsciousness, for release.  
But all he could do was scream in pain, until the other hand, the flesh one, came across his mouth and muffled his anguished cries.  
It made horrible smacking sounds as it fed on him, he couldn’t help but hear, he didn’t want to. And it was either growling or _purring._

Not releasing either of its grips, it grasped his coat in its teeth and ripped it down the arm. The next bite was to the shackled arm, taking most of the bicep at once in one large bloody chunk.  
He would give his life for a cyanide fake molar, _anything_ , just to make the pain _STOP._  
There was nothing but the pain, pian was now his whole world, that and the smell of his own wet meat.

With every bite, every chunk now gone, his ability to survive dropped. Even if it stopped.  
It was too late.  
Now it was eating his thigh. Raising his head weakly it allowed him to do this, he could see the whiteness of his bone in the huge wound. How could it look so white, with all this blood? But it was.

It buried its face in his abdomen, _pulling_. He screamed again around the hand covering his mouth... had he ever stopped screaming? He didn’t know.  
It raised it’s head with a grotesque grin, loops of mangled intestines hanging from its sharp teeth, and met his eyes.  
Giving its head a little jerk, pulling more free with a deep and unyielding pain that was like no other. Or at least, _so far._  
_Why couldn’t he just die?!_ Or at least pass out?

It buried it’s face in him again, seeking a new organ and pulling it free, chewing happily.  
He was going into shock now, knew the signs, couldn’t do anything. That last part, more blood, too much blood. _Good._  
He faded thankfully into oblivion as the creature continued to feed. It was... _over._


End file.
